Vulture Capitalism Hits Maplewood (NYTimes front-page story)
I read through this story, and while the many injustices she suffered need to be fixed, the fact is that she could have gotten out of this mess by simply selling her house.
Home equity theft. That's the part of this that N.J. cab correct.
Mila Jasey, where are you on this?
This is a very sad story. The laws need to change at the state level so real estate speculators can't take possession of a home along with all the equity for a fraction of the cost. That said, it's not a quick process. The owner had opportunities to sell, but chose not to for various reasons.
The owner needed support and advice, but did they get it? The article says they were unable to find a lawyer. But they also probably needed a social worker.
In the end, the system failed on several levels.
Very sad, but having seen this kind of thing happen with a neighbor many years ago...
A person can be given advice (in that case, by family, neighbors, and social worker), but unless someone takes them to court and they are found incompetent, they don't have to take the advice.
That long-ago neighbor "had it all figured out" right up to the day the sheriff's guys and the buyers' (actually lenders') agents came by, and the neighbors rescued as many of her possessions as they could. At that time, her social worker said that the state (California) could have taken title to her house, and she could have lived the rest of her life in it, but she would not agree.
eta: iirc, this was a straight-up foreclosure, not a tax sale. She had (inadvisably, but hey) borrowed $10,000 against the house for (also possibly inadvisable) bills, and when she didn't pay the loan, she lost the house.
The Maplewood Seniors Advisory Committee tackled this issue last year. Suggestions we made to the town included:
Sending quarterly reminders to property owners to pay their real property taxes. Those of us, mostly seniors, who no longer have a mortgage tend to forget when quarterly tax payments are due when we only receive a set of vouchers once a year; and
Following up with residents who did not pay their sewer bill on time to keep them from getting on the tax lien list.
I am not aware of either of these suggestions being implemented and have followed up with the Committee's TC liaison. I will report any reply I receive.
Neither of these suggestions would have helped the subject of this article. As posted above, information on the ramifications of being delinquent on one's real property tax and sewer tax payments is needed. Also needed is a list of resources for those in danger of finding themselves in the same situation as the subject of the article. Does anyone know of any not for profits that do this successfully?
drummerboy said:
I read through this story, and while the many injustices she suffered need to be fixed, the fact is that she could have gotten out of this mess by simply selling her house.
Not really. Read the fine print.
interestingly. I brought this story to Jamie’s thread, What can we do (as a town, as a citizen group) thinking a platform would trigger a communal response. What I got was castigation from a poster — who was also angry back in December for the fire story being reported here. The Times report covered many more personal details, name, etc, her arrest and incarceration, her release, alone, in borrowed clothes, to travel to a friend’s !
I wrote I had tears in my eyes reading that story, and a poster reported me, for what? Empathy? Will Dave get reported, as well?
joan_crystal said:
Following up with residents who did not pay their sewer bill on time to keep them from getting on the tax lien list.
This has happened to me a few times over the years. The sewer bill arrives in the spring with a summer due date. It's easy to forget. If you read the public notice for the tax lien sale, there is a very long list of people who owe just the sewer payment.
A better system is needed for notifying homeowners.
mtierney said:
I wrote I had tears in my eyes reading that story, and a poster reported me, for what? Empathy?
LOL! I knew it. Today being Groundhog Day, mtierney was guaranteed to pose as "the real victim".
I don't know what Punxsutawney Phil saw but MOL's own whistlepig is definitely predicting 6 more weeks of delicate snow flakes.
mtierney said:
drummerboy said:
I read through this story, and while the many injustices she suffered need to be fixed, the fact is that she could have gotten out of this mess by simply selling her house.
Not really. Read the fine print.
...
are you saying she was somehow prevented from selling her house before her situation got out of hand?
I'm angry, bitter and terrified about what happened to this woman. Maplewood is definitely not Bedford Falls. The comments on the article on the NYT website are fascinating. The opinions vacillate between "she should have sold her house" to "the system is unfair and broken." I'm in the latter camp. I agree with the person who wrote:
$92,800. That is the magic number. It’s not just predatory investors who take advantage of this legal yet morally bankrupt law. Maplewood was paid a $92,800 “premium” in selling a $12,500 tax debt. Not very neighborly.
And someone else wrote this, in response to a quote from the article:
"Competition was brisk. To win the right to buy the lien, Effect Lake not only agreed to charge zero-percent interest on the initial debt, but it paid Maplewood a $92,800 premium to do so — a routine practice used to outbid competitors."
TWO cartel political parties seem committed to letting this continue. Neither wants to protect the homes of citizens from predatory capital investment groups. Absolutely horrible people seem to be in control of most government now.
mtierney said:
drummerboy said:
I read through this story, and while the many injustices she suffered need to be fixed, the fact is that she could have gotten out of this mess by simply selling her house.
Not really. Read the fine print.
interestingly. I brought this story to Jamie’s thread, What can we do (as a town, as a citizen group) thinking a platform would trigger a communal response. What I got was castigation from a poster — who was also angry back in December for the fire story being reported here. The Times report covered many more personal details, name, etc, her arrest and incarceration, her release, alone, in borrowed clothes, to travel to a friend’s !
I wrote I had tears in my eyes reading that story, and a poster reported me, for what? Empathy? Will Dave get reported, as well?
you were spreading gossip in the hours immediately following the fire, and you were blaming the neighbors for this unfortunate woman's plight. and now that the story has been more fully reported, it's even more clear that blaming the neighbors for not doing more to help her keep the house was wrong and unfair of you. it seemed you were using this tragic story as a way to convince yourself of the callousness of the people of SOMA.
you deserved the castigation.
I saw this story last night and was so fascinated. So many threads to untangle.
This much is clear: The law that allows equity theft has to go.
But the woman at the center of this story did zero to mitigate her circumstances despite many opportunities.
However, it seems that the platform from which she dug in her heels was psychological dysfunction.
shoshannah said:
I saw this story last night and was so fascinated. So many threads to untangle.
This much is clear: The law that allows equity theft has to go.
But the woman at the center of this story did zero to mitigate her circumstances despite many opportunities.
However, it seems that the platform from which she dug in her heels was psychological dysfunction.
that's a good summary. I think there has to be a limit to the third party profit. Maybe the town should be limited to a 20% premium to cover costs, and the debt buyers should get only 20% of any equity if they force a sale. It's an emotional issue that needs a rational solution, and that's not easy.
DanDietrich said:
that's a good summary. I think there has to be a limit to the third party profit. Maybe the town should be limited to a 20% premium to cover costs, and the debt buyers should get only 20% of any equity if they force a sale. It's an emotional issue that needs a rational solution, and that's not easy.
I think this is a state legislative issue. Some states have the same problem with repo cars that are sold and the bank keeps all equity. There is legislation in a one state (I believe Illinois) to have equity returned to the. repossesse after car is auctioned and expenses are deducted.
This leads me to wonder about the status of repossessed cars that are auctioned.
So we have an assemblywoman and senator in our district. Are they good for anything but shaking hands and photo ops? But I guess that is a topic for another thread.
Formerlyjerseyjack said:
I think this is a state legislative issue. Some states have the same problem with repo cars that are sold and the bank keeps all equity. There is legislation in a one state (I believe Illinois) to have equity returned to the. repossesse after car is auctioned and expenses are deducted.
This leads me to wonder about the status of repossessed cars that are auctioned.
So we have an assemblywoman and senator in our district. Are they good for anything but shaking hands and photo ops? But I guess that is a topic for another thread.
The title of this thread says it all.
New Jersey is one of just a dozen states that permit investors to make huge profits on the debt of struggling homeowners, ultimately allowing them to foreclose on the property and keep all the profit.
That, to me is what pushed her over the edge. The “investor” is a vulture. Period.
shoshannah said:
I saw this story last night and was so fascinated. So many threads to untangle.
This much is clear: The law that allows equity theft has to go.
But the woman at the center of this story did zero to mitigate her circumstances despite many opportunities.
However, it seems that the platform from which she dug in her heels was psychological dysfunction.
Without knowing much about this woman, it does seem as though she's been mentally under siege for a long time. However, I've read her extensive Facebook posts, kindly provided to me by a subscriber, and they're exhaustive, but intelligent. She worked hard to hold back the boulder that was threatening to crush her. One way the lien holder repeatedly sabotaged her was by sending required notices weeks late (postmarks proved it), depriving her of response time. I believe this is detailed in the article.
How many Mpl properties are under tax certificate sales? I doubt, too many.
maybe if tax dept notifies social services in case other issues are involved
I am impressed how some people here are responding to the reality of this woman’s story, and not to me, as the one who brought up the topic — as a couple of troubled posters have.
I hope, collectively, some knowledge of how social, civic, and politics work will result in fewer people unaware, or unable to cope.
Formerlyjerseyjack said:
How many Mpl properties are under tax certificate sales? I doubt, too many.
maybe if tax dept notifies social services in case other issues are involved
Most properties on the list owe sewer fees.
mtierney said:
I am impressed how some people here are responding to the reality of this woman’s story, and not to me, as the one who brought up the topic.
Narcissism ho!
In any case, you didn't "bring up the topic", you used this woman's tragedy as an opportunity to attack her neighbors, the very people who had already been struggling to support her.
Ugly stuff, as I said before. Give it a rest.
I graduated high school with Eve. Her story is haunting me. I did know of her travails but not the extent of them as she unfriended me on Facebook for some reason. I really hope that she can find some peace and that she doesn't face jail time.
For those asking why her neighbors didn’t help her. I know there might be more people out there who might be losing their homes. It’s terrifying.
the tax lien game used to be better before larger players got involved. now every rinky dink amount often gets bid down to zero pc plus premium.
Let us not forget that tax lien investors provide vital liquidity to this and other towns, so we can continue to fund things we all need.
This is a sob story no doubt, but one should sell a house one cannot afford. And there is no shame in that unless one brings it upon themselves.
BarneyGumble said:
This is a sob story no doubt, but one should sell a house one cannot afford. And there is no shame in that unless one brings it upon themselves.
This may not appear to be an option if one has no equity left in the house and nowhere to go. We really need to change the law. In the meanwhile, we need to develop resources and procedures to reduce the likelihood of this happening to anyone else.
BarneyGumble said:
the tax lien game used to be better before larger players got involved. now every rinky dink amount often gets bid down to zero pc plus premium.
Let us not forget that tax lien investors provide vital liquidity to this and other towns, so we can continue to fund things we all need.
This is a sob story no doubt, but one should sell a house one cannot afford. And there is no shame in that unless one brings it upon themselves.
Tax liens do provide a service. But it should be limited to, you bid on the lien and collect interest. Your "loan" is secured by the property. However, recovery after a default should be limited to the money you loaned + interest.
We bought our first Maplewood house in 1962, leaving our very nice 2 bedroom apartment in Ivy Hill on the 14th floor — all the big windows faced the Short Hills by Ivy Hill park. The rent was $85 a month.
The arrival of our first child convinced us schlepping kids stuff, groceries, etc had to stop. Back in Brooklyn my mother raised us three kids in a four floor wall-up — never complained that I can recall.
but then, my mother’s golden rule was “many hands make light work!”
1962 was the same year the Maplewood Ave home under discussion was purchased — 0urs was 3 bedroom, 1-1/2 baths.
That house is in a neighborhood still viewed as desirable. We paid what we considered an astronomical sum: $22,500;
Three more kids in 5 years, so 11 years later we moved once more literally walking distance away.l remembered my mother’s adage. An we did have four sleds!
dave